


The Skitters' Reason

by Keenir



Category: Falling Skies
Genre: Humor, Skitters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-24
Updated: 2011-05-24
Packaged: 2017-10-19 18:05:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/203756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why did the "Skitters" attack Earth?  Why are they occupying us?  And how do we get them to leave?</p><p><span class="small">(some speculation on motivations, based on commercials and <i>coming this season</i>)</span><br/>I start with a drabble of what we might see - and each succeeding drabble drops in probability as to what we're going to see.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Onboard

**On Board A Crashed And Emptied Skitter Shuttlecraft:**

"My watch seems to have synched up to the onboard counter," she said.

"Mine too," the ex-officer said. "Cycling through pretty fast. Not a bomb counter, unless its counting to a googlplex."

And then the room filled with a hologram. The little hairs on the backs of their necks stood up, but for a nonemotional reason, really.

The holographic image was of "Earth," he said. "We're approaching Earth." But there was something wrong with the planet.

"Must be data storage - now if we just had a clue what we did to activate it."

"Not sure - but I think I know what we're seeing: these are telecommunications relays, electrical grids, and I think you know where I'm going with this."

"Shit," she said. When crowded together or as irked as the aliens got, Skitters discharged an electric shock - mild for a Skitter, sometimes fatal for a human - it was like jostling and light shoving between humans.

"I don't get it," the main character said, asking so the audience could follow along.

"We've already established that Skitters talk like electric eels. Their vocalizations are icing on the cake - or like Mark Twain said, the flake of paint atop the Eiffel Tower."

"Which as we all know," joked the ex-soldier, "is the entire reason why the tower was built."

Then something happened in the hologram: a laser cannon erupted. Or at least that's what it looked like.

Looking at his watch, "9:42," the ex-officer said. "That's when we started to talk to them."

"This is how they saw it?"

"Looks like," she said.

"But they weren't damaged. Why retaliate?"

"I seem to recall you were pretty pissed when I slapped you, and you stayed that way for over a week."

"Just luck there wasn't a rock or a gun near you at the time, boy," the ex-officer said to the main character. "Besides, it might have scrambled the programs they needed for something or other."

The first 'message' was followed by a second, a third, and so on for over a day on their sped-up watches. _These were the Skitters' first targets._


	2. Back at camp

**BACK AT CAMP:**

"You want to explain what you said so off-handedly on our way back?"

She answered, "Think about it. They only switched their strategy from targetted bombardment to extermination when they found our museums. They saw what we're capable of."

"So they found the dodo and the sea cow. So?"

"And Buchenwald, Gettysburg, Eebenezer Mission."

"Those are nothing alike," one of the ex-officers stated.

"According to our laws, that's true. But remember when you said the Skitters don't abide by our laws and mores?"

"Are you saying that the past six months have been their attempt to fit in. To 'act human' alongside the native population?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"Then how do we deal with them?"

"Same way we would deal with humans."

"Pretty sure the Hague's rubble by now," muttered one gunman.

"No, she's right," the ex-officer said. "Mexico, Rwanda, all sorts of precedents."

"Exactly," she said approvingly.

"Or," said the dashingly handsome main character, "we can use my plan."


	3. Series finale

That was the required highly-dramatic moment when one of the main characters pulled a superweapon out of his ass. Not literally, of course, because that would have been painful and messy and life-threatening (and the angst for this ep needs to be saved for later)

It was a superweapon that would destroy all the Skitters on planet Earth and shove their ships away from the planet. "And, we hope, they won't come back for a second round."

"Yeah. That would be bad." _Not least because we only have one superweapon._

 *****

The superweapon was deployed, at great personal risk to the foremost main character, forcing one of the heroines and two of the fellow heroes to admit their feelings for him. (after much angst, naturally)

After suffering such a great loss, the Skitters limped to the outer edges of Earth's solar system, to ask for help at the planet Mondas.

 *****

series 2


End file.
